Avoid Surprise Charges After Your The Economist Free Trial
Like most news & reading services, a The Economist free trial (if you're on one) is designed to convert into a paid subscription automatically unless you cancel before it ends — that's the default on almost every subscription trial, not something specific to The Economist. The trick is simply not forgetting.
How to not get caught out
- 1Note the exact trial-end date the moment you sign up — it's usually shown on the confirmation screen or email, and it's easy to lose track of once a few weeks pass.
- 2Set a reminder a few days before, not on the last day — that gives you a buffer to actually decide and act, rather than discovering it's already converted to paid.
- 3Check your account/billing settings for The Economist to confirm whether you're currently on a trial and when it converts — don't rely on memory alone.
- 4If you decide not to keep it, cancel through the same place you signed up — an app store subscription needs to be cancelled from the app store, not from within the The Economist app itself. See our full cancellation guide for The Economist.
Let Subdek remember the trial-end date for you
Add The Economist to Subdek with its trial-end (or renewal) date, and you'll get a reminder before it quietly becomes a paid subscription — across every trial and subscription you're juggling, not just this one.